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Wednesday, May 19, 2010

So since I am a first time Mom and have no idea what to do or how to baby proof a house besides basics PLEASE any suggestions would help. We live in a 2 story house with tile downstairs and wood floors upstairs. I hated carpet but now I am realizing that carpet is actually great when you have kids. So please share any tips you might have or any funny experiences you have had. Thanks!

12 comments:

The only thing I "proofed" was the electrical sockets....I had one cabinet where we kept the cleaning products "proofed" also, but other than that....I didn't have to "proof" anything else. Brianna never really opened cabinets and when I was cleaning I used a baby gate to keep her in her playroom. Good luck!!

Secure anything that they can pull up onto. It's not long after they crawl they start trying to pull up. We have a wood dvd case that is wobbly and he tried to pull up on it and it almost fell on him which would have been horrible. So we had to make sure it can't fall over now.

Socket covers. We put the foam corner overs on our coffee table. Aiden is trying to stand on ANYTHING and EVERYTHING and a simple baby gate seemed pointless, he just stood up on it and tried to climb it. So we had to go to the extreme and get him a baby super playyard. So at least now we can contain him in one area.

I have done electrical outlets, they have some cool ones at One Step Ahead, that are retractable... I also have done foam edging on our sharp corners (the fireplace hearth)...eventually I will do a couple of the cabinets with glass in them, or the under the sink stuff...Good Luck :)

sockets, cabinets, drawers and gates to the stairs are most important. And after that you MUST secure all tall furniture. If you have a tall bookshelf, dresser or anything that they can pull up on and have it fall on themselves please secure it to the wall. And if you have a huge tv, you might want to do that too. Oh and fireplaces closed off. Dont worry too much about the floors tho. Maybe just make sure he is barefoot at home so there will be no slipping as he learns to walk :)

I know that you probably don't have to worry about this too much yet...but the one thing I didn't have that I should have had and have now (but only because of a horrible scary event with my daughter) is those doorknob covers that prevent them from opening the doors. We have a basement and it never ever crossed my mind that they would be able to open that door without me knowing it but sure enough...Nate did and Danika fell right down the steps. Something to keep in mind after he starts walking more than crawling - but make sure the doors are closed if you have them now that he's on the move.

The other thing we did was add those cabinet "locks" to all of our kitchen cabinets that they are able to reach...you know that one under the sink that you (or at least I) keep all the cleaning supplies in. :)

The one thing I suggest, and this may sound obvious, is to make sure that there is nothing dangerous nearby the playpen. Kids are notorious for pulling blind cords into the playpens and strangling. Same goes for high chairs cribs and strollers. Make sure surrounding areas are safe.Bolt furniture to the walls and watch out for lead poisoning. Extension cords, holiday lights and garden hoses are all coated with lead and can transfer from your hands into your child’s blood stream through their skin. Small amounts produce irreversible brain damage at this stage of brain development.

The best advice I have is turn their room into a baby safe room. I have ej's roomed totally baby proofed there is nothing in there that can hurt him, I have the foam alphabet mats in an entire section for him to play on and the vast majority of toys in there. I put a baby gate up on his door and when I need him to be somewhere safe to play that's were he goes. Its awesome, he loves it, he plays quietly by himself or with the dog and momma can get cleaning etc done. I also have hard woods everywhere so I bought a few packets of the foam mats and move them around the house to were we are playing. Also, I got sick of cleaning up the mess when he would pull out all of the pots and pans so I got locks for all the kitchen cabinets. Things like cleaning products, lotions and make up should be up high kids are crafty. And most important remember you aren't perfect you are going to miss something and kids are crafty just keep an eye on him, you are doing great!

All the previous posters have great suggestions. We've had luck with Summer Extendable gates from BRU (great for wide stairways). Best thing to do - get down on your hands and knees and see the world from your son's perspective - you'll see exactly what he can get into!

We only have electrical socket covers and a few cabinet locks in the kitchen. We have a 2 story with tile/hardwood downstairs and carpet upstairs. When he was first mobile, we just kept Turtle confined to the lower level and we taught him what he could and could not touch. Now, our loft is our playroom so I put a gate at the top of the stairs but that's the extent of it.

After you take all of the aboce advice, get down on your kid's level and look around. There will be things you missed they will find- I found a hidden hair elastic the other day that Wonder Boy would have choked on!